


never been the point

by halfasgoodatanything



Category: Iron Man (Movies), The Avengers (Marvel Movies), The Avengers (Marvel) - All Media Types
Genre: (rhodey wants to give him one), (steve and tony where), Arc Reactor, Friends With Benefits, M/M, Pining, Pining Rhodey, Post-Captain America: Civil War (Movie), Tony Stark Has A Heart, Tony Stark Needs a Hug, Tony Stark Still Has Arc Reactor, Unrequited Love
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-08-21
Updated: 2018-08-21
Packaged: 2019-06-30 16:42:41
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 639
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/15755718
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/halfasgoodatanything/pseuds/halfasgoodatanything
Summary: How Rhodey finds out about Steve's shield stabbing Tony in Siberia. Probably going to have a follow up!





	never been the point

**Author's Note:**

  * For [dizzydreamer](https://archiveofourown.org/users/dizzydreamer/gifts).



Rhodey finds out on a Tuesday months after the event, through an echo of a scar.

Maybe Tony thought he wouldn’t notice. Maybe he thought that with the remnants of the gird, with all the bits and pieces around him that are broken- Rhodey wouldn’t notice something new. Not like that.

If he thought that, he was sure as shit wrong.

“What the hell is that?” He says, without thinking, pointing at the reactor. It’s still glowing. Of all the negatives that came with a large piece of tech- the glow was definitely not one of them. A light to show that he’sstill alive. “When did you get that one?”

He watches Tony’s face flash in hurt before the mask he wears settles back over his face (Rhodey doesn’t get why he still thinks that works after 25 _years_ )

“Gonna have to be more specific, Honeybear,” Tony smiles, bright and brilliantbut his eyes are brown and doe eyed and honest, the same they were when he met the stubborn kid in MIT.

“The line, across your chest.” He tries to make it clear. Tony’s bad at lying to him, and right now, he’s helping him walk in the workshop and he’s the same guy he couldn’t lie to drunk out of his mind at 15, the same one he couldn’t lie to when he was having nightmares after he got that glowing bit.

“Cap.”

Things are so different now. Even more than after Afghanistan. Even then, Tony and him- they could watch a movie and Tony, he’d smile. He’d smile at nothing, laugh at performers- it’s not that he doesn’t, now. One of the curses of knowing Tony like he knows himself is that he knows when he’s got his press smile. It’s a lot of what he sees these days.

Natalie Rushman happened. His heart happened. Pepper happened. Tony looks so tired. Rhodey’s paralyzed and he still wants to take some of Tony’s pain.

He’d been sleeping with Captain Fucking America.

“He did this?”

“In, uh, Siberia.”

He’d know there was a fight. He hadn’t known, _this-_

“What did he do?”

“He-Barnes-“

“ _Barnes_ was involved in this?”

And then, then Tony sighs, that way he has so goddamn much lately, and it damn near breaks Rhodey’s heart.

“Barnes, the _Winter Soldier,_ not him himself- he’s the one who-“ his voice cracked. Rhodey wants to crack something open. “He uh, killed my parents. He’s the one who was behind it. That’s why, I went crazy and took his shield, I know I shouldn’t of-“

“Jesus Christ, Tones.”He wants to say something else, offer Tony comfort but what the _fuck-_

“He knew. Rogers. He’s known for a while. I was pissed, I fought him, and he stuck his shield into the suit at a point.”

It’s like a gunshot. Silence follows, and Rhodey’s brain just goes silent.

Watching Tony and Steve, they think they’re so damn _clever,_ thinking no one knows what they’re doing when they sneak into rooms, when Steve wears Tony’s tie to some dumb brief. How the flirting causes blushes instead of anger. How they play footsie under the table at meetings.

Rhodey always knew he would never get to have Tony. He figured he could _trust_ Captain America.

And Tony is standing here, telling him that Captain America chose his best friend over the man he loved. Over the man Rhodey loved.

He wished he could punch through his perfect fucking teeth.

“He’s never coming near you again, okay?” He says. It’s just like the “fun-vee.” He’s not going to tell Tony how terrifying it is for him that Rogers almost killed him. Almost _took_ his Tony away. It’s not the point. How he feels has never been the point.

Tony smiles, a bit more real, and rests his head against his shoulder.

**Author's Note:**

> tell me what you think!!follow me on tumblr! sweethearttony!!


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